Close Brothers Group Plc extended a share price rout that has wiped out a third of its value this year, amid ongoing reviews by the Financial Conduct Authority of two markets in which the 145-year-old British bank operates in, Bloomberg News reported. The stock fell as much as 5% on Friday, as RBC Capital downgraded its rating due to the regulator’s separate reviews of both motor financing and insurance taken out on credit, known as premium finance.

Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill said the first interest rate reduction is still “some way off” despite signals that borrowing costs have probably peaked, Bloomberg News reported. Addressing the central bank’s regional agents after the deeply split vote to maintain the key rate at 5.25%, Pill said policy needed to remain “restrictive until the consistent component of inflation has been squeezed out of the system.” The remarks tempered expectations on a rapid series of rate cuts this year.

Europe on Friday moved a step closer to adopting rules governing the use of artificial intelligence and AI models such as Microsoft-backed ChatGPT after EU countries endorsed a political deal reached in December, Reuters reported. The rules, proposed by the European Commission three years ago, aim to set a global standard for a technology used in a vast swathe of industries from the banking and retail to car and airline sectors. They also set parameters for the use of AI for military, crime and security purposes.

The Bank of England left its key interest rate unchanged but signaled it is likely to lower borrowing costs this year for the first time since 2020, though perhaps not as soon as investors expect, the Wall Street Journal reported. The U.K. central bank’s move followed a similar pivot by the Federal Reserve, which Wednesday signaled it was thinking about when to lower interest rates but hinted a cut wasn’t imminent when it held rates steady. Last week, the European Central Bank left its key rate at a record high but kept open the door to cuts as soon as the spring.

Business insolvencies in Northern Ireland soared by 62% in the final quarter of 2023 compared to the previous year, government figures show, the Irish News reported. But on the flip side, more than 13,200 start-ups were launched over the last 12 months. There were 81 company insolvencies in the north in the October-December period, according to the Insolvency Service, taking the total number of business failures over the calendar year to more than 200.

German inflation fell in January to its lowest level since June 2021, dragged down by falling energy prices, likely leading to further calls for the European Central Bank to start cutting rates sooner, the Wall Street Journal reported. Consumer prices were 2.9% higher in January than the same month a year earlier, compared with 3.7% in December, measured by national standards, data from the German statistics office Destatis showed Wednesday.

The head of Scandinavian airline SAS, opens new tab criticised the European Commission on Monday for taking a "cautious" approach to consolidation in the industry at a time when the EU is adding to the cost of flying, Reuters reported. Anko van der Werff, whose long-struggling carrier is the largest in Scandinavia, listed the European Union's flagship scheme to help curb greenhouse gas emissions as among the reasons why the EU "clearly wants flying to be more expensive".

The number of companies going bust in the UK jumped to the highest level in 30 years as businesses were hit by a combination of high borrowing costs, surging inflation and weakening consumer demand, Bloomberg News reported. In 2023, there were 25,158 registered company insolvencies across England and Wales, according to quarterly data released on Tuesday by the government’s Insolvency Service. That’s the most recorded since 1993. One in 186 active companies entered insolvent liquidation in 2023, the highest rate in around a decade.

The eurozone economy stagnated late last year as a lingering energy crisis sparked a loss of competitiveness in some European industries, and consumers reined in spending to grapple with high living costs, Europe’s statistics agency reported Tuesday, the New York Times reported. But economists believe the worst may be over, as the European Central Bank continues its campaign to wring out inflation without plunging the eurozone economy into a deep downturn.